FRENCH EXIT: Vendelmans, London

By appointment 8 May - 22nd June 2024 

Private view 7 May 6-8pm

I just want to be alone. 

Why was, and still is, the world so fascinated by others’ quest for seclusion? Throughout history, figures as diverse as MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE and INGMAR BERGMAN have sought out their solitude on a voluntarily basis. Perhaps their persistent appeal for privacy triggers our own curiosity and imagination. That is to say, that we are presented with a closed door separating us, on the outside, with them on the inside. What were they up to, really? 

This pursuit of time alone, with the aim of indulging in laziness, pleasure or intellectual stimulation, is the red thread running through the present exhibition. Each work, in its own way, forms a visual expression of this longing to make a ‘French exit’ - or to discreetly retreat from one’s social context.  

Two private drawings by SERGEI EISENTEIN are joined by one of ARMAND DORÉ’s bohemian femme fatales. LEONID BERMAN’s portrait of artist ALEX SMADJA shows a man slowly drifting into an interior world, while the full-length nude drawing by EUGENE JANSSON bears witness to the act of undressing as a way of withdrawing from society. JAMES WARD and EMILE THYSEBAERT chose to depict their sitters during perhaps the most clandestine of activities: dreaming. What these dreams may look like, is conjured up in red chalk by PIERRE PUVIS DE CHAVANNES in his intimate study of three bathers. And lastly, there is the  plaster bust by JOHN LUNDQVIST, presenting a youth en route to the afterlife - apparently suspended somewhere deep in a dream, eternally at peace.